Indian-owned Global Steel Philippines Inc. (GSPI), formerly National Steel Corp., has infused $100 million primarily for raw materials procurement as the company ramps up production to meet rising demand of steel here and abroad.

“The worst is over for the steel industry,” declared Sangram Mohanty, GSPI vice-president as he divulged aggressive plans to serve both the local and foreign market.

According to Mohanty, the $100 million capital infusion has been tied up to the importation of iron slabs, the raw materials for the production of hot-rolled coils and cold-rolled coils and steel plates.

The slabs would be imported from India, Brazil and Venezuela.

The new lifeline would be infused into its operation starting August till December this year.

This would enable GSPI to ramp up production to 60,000 MT per month by October from 35,000 MT in September.

Steel production of GSPI would reach 80,000 MT by December and 1 million MT monthly starting January next year.

“The worst part of the steel industry is over and steel companies all over the world are increasing production,” Mohanty said.

He noted that last year, steel companies had to cut down production by 60 percent and that only 40 percent of capacity was utilized.

But this time, he said, the market is rising and prices of steel have gone up by $200 per metric ton since May to August this year. Current prices of steel are pegged between $590 to $600 per MT.

“The expectation is this will further go up by December this year. The market is firming up,“ he said.

Mohanty also said that GSPI is well positioned to take advantage of a robust market because it has presence in 30 countries including Asia. It also boasts of its Six Sigma-certified management and manufacturing operation that would make its operation competitive. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.

“Growth is in Asia, which is on its way to recovery,” said Mohanty.

Already, Mohanty said the company is already in a position to make full use of its 1,100 workers in Iligan City, most of them have been on forced leave since the crisis hit GSPI and forced them to operate on order basis only since early this year.